International Publication No W088/10422 discloses, inter alia, techniques for analysing carbohydrate structures or distinguishing or separating carbohydrate substances, involving applying carbohydrate substances to an electrophoretic gel and running the gel to cause differential migration of different substances. The carbohydrate substances may be labelled, e.g. with a fluorescent labelling reagent, to impart a charge to the substance, thereby to enable electrophoretic separation, and to enable visualisation of the substances after running of the gel. Visualisation may be effected with the naked eye, but enhanced sensitivity is obtained by viewing with a charge coupled device (CCD).
The present invention concerns a development of such techniques in the form of a further processing step applicable to electrophoretically separated carbohydrate units.